This invention relates generally to the field of receiving, storing and dispensing compressed natural gas, and more particularly relates to systems and methods for receiving natural gas from pipelines or delivery vehicles, compressing and storing the natural gas, and dispensing the natural gas into vehicles from fuel islands.
Using compressed natural gas (“CNG”) for motor vehicle fuel is relatively new in the U.S. It is anticipated that most CNG fuel islands, designed and structured to dispense CNG to individual vehicles in the manner of standard gas stations, will obtain natural gas by direct connection to utility pipelines, as provided by municipal infrastructure. However, the gas pressure and volume from these pipelines is insufficient to support fast-fill, i.e., CNG-on-demand, islands. Inconsistent demands for natural gas throughout the day by neighboring customers sharing the pipeline create widely disparate volume and pressures that are detrimental for optimum operation of open-traffic fast-fill CNG fuel islands directed at refueling motor vehicles. Decreased pipeline pressure increases the time required to fuel vehicles, and as more vehicles convert to CNG, the fuel demand may exceed the supply available to any given fuel island because the island is dependent on the supply offered by the neighborhood pipeline at any given time.
It is an object of this invention to address and solve the above problems by providing a system of CNG storage tanks and gas compressors which are designed to collect, store and compress natural gas on site in a manner that accounts for fluctuations in gas supply from pipelines or other sources and accounts for fluctuations in vehicle refueling demands.